Absence of Additional Stretching-Induced Electron Scattering in Highly Conductive Cross-linked Nanocomposites with Negligible Tunneling Barrier Height and Width

Abstract

The intrinsic resistance of stretchable materials is dependent on strain, following Ohm's law. Here the invariable resistance of highly conductive cross-linked nanocomposites over 53% strain is reported, where additional electron scattering is absent with stretching. The in situ generated uniformly dispersed small silver nanosatellite particles (diameter = 3.6 nm) realize a short tunneling barrier width of 4.1 nm in cross-linked silicone rubber matrix. Furthermore, the barrier height can be precisely controlled by the gap state energy level modulation in silicone rubber using cross-linkers. The negligible barrier height (0.01 eV) and short barrier width, achieved by the silver nanosatellite particles in cross-linked silicone rubber, dramatically increase the electrical conductivity (51 710 S cm^-1) by more than 4 orders of magnitude. The high conductance is also maintained over 53% strain. The quantum tunneling behavior is observed when the barrier height is increased, following the Simmons approximation theory. The transport becomes diffusive, following Ohm's law, when the barrier width is increased beyond 10.3 nm. This study provides a novel strain-invariant resistance mechanism in highly conductive cross-linked nanocomposites.

Keywords: barrier height; barrier width; cross‐linked nanocomposites; resistance; tunneling.